This invention relates to an electronic musical instrument with a rhythm-play function for providing rhythm play by generating, in particular, percussion instrument sounds.
Heretofore, various electronic keyboard musical instruments capable of automatic rhythm play have been developed. In such musical instruments, automatic rhythm play of waltz, rock, tango, etc., can be obtained by operation of a rhythm-selection switch. In this type of prior art musical instrument, however, rhythm sounds which can be generated are usually generated repeatedly in a particular pattern, so that the play is inevitably rather monotonous.
This type of electronic keyboard musical instrument further has a so-called fill-in function for interrupting previous rhythm play and permitting ad-lib-like rhythm play, in response to the operation of a particular push-button switch. Such fill-in rhythm is usually generated according to data stored in a ROM which is preliminarily programmed by the manufacturer, so that, musically, it is not so interesting.
Accordingly, it is expected that more realistic rhythm play can be achieved by generating rhythm sounds by manual operation. In a prior art electronic percussion instrument called an electronic drum, however, it is only possible to generate percussion sounds by operating an operating section called a pad or the like, and no consideration is given in relation to such electronic percussion instruments to the operation of a keyboard having white and black keys. Electronic percussion instruments of the type noted above are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,598 (issued on Dec. 6, 1983) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,412 (issued on Oct. 30, 1984).
Further, there are electronic keyboard musical instruments which permit generation of such percussion instrument sounds, as mentioned above, in response to operation of the keyboard. For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 52-114728 discloses a technique in which a key can assume a mode for instructing generation of a melody sound and a mode for instructing the generation of a percussion instrument sound, in response to the operation of a switch. Again, in this case, however, there is no musical relation between the playing of melody sounds in response to keyboard operation and generation of rhythm sounds.